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Google CIO defects to EMI

Record label poaches Douglas Merrill to head up digital business

Douglas Merrill, de facto chief information officer and vice president of
engineering at Google, has quit his post to become president of digital business
at EMI Music.

The appointment marks the first time that the UK record label has created
such a post.

Merrill, who oversaw Google's successful stock market listing in 2004, will
start his new role of beefing up EMI Music's online operations on 28 April at
the firm's Los Angeles office.

Guy Hands, chief executive at Terra Firma, and chairman of EMI Group,
welcomed the new online boss, praising his business intellect and engineering
expertise.

"Merrill's experience, talents and ability to drive innovation will be
enormously valuable to EMI and its artists," said Hands.

Merrill explained in a statement that the new post will allow him to combine
two of his biggest passions.

"One is creating platforms and tools that make it easier for consumers to
achieve their goals. The other is music," he said.

"This exciting new role at EMI is a unique opportunity for me to put those
two passions to work together, and help deliver EMI's objective of providing the
best services in the world to consumers and musicians."

Merrill's move to EMI follows last month's high-profile
departure
of Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales, to
become the new chief operating officer at Facebook.

Another departure saw
Ethan
Beard quit as head of social media at Google to join Facebook as director of
business development.